Counterfeiting Microsoft Windows Restore CDs Landed Me in Prison for a Year

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In 2012, while living in China, longtime e-waste recycler Eric Lundgren manufactured 28,000 PC restore discs to be used in refurbished computers sold in the United States.

The shipment of discs, exact copies of Dell-branded Microsoft Windows CDs, immediately raised suspicions with U.S. Customs officers, beginning a chain of events that would alter Lundgren’s life for the next seven years.

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